THE LEGEND OF THE CHRISTMAS SPIDER(A folk legend from Germany and the Ukraine)

nce upon a time, long ago, a gentle mother was busily cleaning the
house for the most wonderful day of the year.... The day on which the
Christ child came to bless the house. Not a speck of dust was left. Even
the spiders had been banished from their cozy corner in the ceiling to
avoid the housewife's busy cleaning. They finally fled to the farthest
corner of the attic.

T'was the Christmas eve at last! The tree was decorated and waiting
for the children to see it. But the poor spiders were frantic, for they
could not see the tree, nor be present for the Christ child's visit. But
the oldest and wisest spider suggested that perhaps they could peep
through the crack in the door to see him. Silently they crept out of
their attic, down the stairs, and across the floor to wait in the crack in
the threshold. Suddenly, the door opened a wee bit and quickly the
spiders scurried into the room. They must see the tree closely, since
their eyes weren't accustomed to the brightness of the room... so the crept
all over the tree, up and down, over every branch and twig and saw every
one of the pretty things. At last they satisfied themselves completely of
the Christmas tree beauty.

But alas!! Everywhere they went they had left their webs, and when
the little Christ child came to bless the house he was dismayed. He loved
the little spiders, for they were God's creatures too, but he knew the
mother, who had trimmed the tree for the little children, wouldn't feel
the same, so He touched the webs and they all turned to sparkling,
shimmering, silver and gold!

Ever since that time, we have hung tinsel on our christmas trees, and
according to the legend, it has been a custom to include a spider among
the decorations on the tree.

I would like to thank my wonderful sister Marsha (Mart) for giving me this
joyous story to share with you.